Buzz Out Loud Podcast

Amazon announced same-day delivery for certain areas today, although we're not sure if you can buy wines by the glass. We also cover the BlackBerry Storm and the Motorola Cliq announcements. Guess which one we like better? And the Danger Sidekick tale continues.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Don’t change your Twitter passwords if you don’t want to lose your account
http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/twitter-warns-users-not-change-log-in-data-until-further-notice-815

Microsoft confirms data recovery for Sidekick users
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/oct09/10-15sidekick.mspx
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=4245

Sidekick outage is more than just an inconvenience for deaf people
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10375186-56.html

Sidekick users file a lawsuit
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10375240-56.html

BlackBerry Storm 2: Marginally better
http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/rim-blackberry-storm-2/4505-6454_7-33776074.html
http://cnettv.cnet.com/rim-blackberry-storm-2-verizon-wireless/9742-1_53-50078204.html

Motorola Cliq
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/motorola-cliq-t-mobile/4505-6452_7-33770768.html

Wal-Mart to launch prepaid plans
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/10/14/walmart-launching-own-pre-paid-cell-plans/

Amazon.com introduces same-day delivery
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/amazoncom-introduces-same-day-delivery/?hp

Gartner Says worldwide PC shipments returned to growth in third quarter of 2009
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1207613

Google to launch remote book downloading service
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-10-15-google-editions_N.htm?csp=34

U.K. copyright group tells cinemas to ban laptops
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/10/15/1321243/UK-Copyright-Group-Tells-Cinemas-to-Ban-Laptops

New CBS News iPhone app (shameless)
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=334256223&mt=8

Voice mail
Rob wants to know about this Sprint data-only phone

Vic the Texas Rancher Pilot on a use for the iPhone car starter

E-mail
Hi Buzz Crew

See:

http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/index.php/software-update-causes-mass-box-
failure

A major software update to UK sat tv HD Freesat boxes has bricked many
boxes including mine. No warning and no way to re-wind. I have no TV at
all now and helpful tech support guy says they will be sending out a
new over-the-air update in the next few days – hopefully. Don’t know
how it will work as box reboots every 30 secs at the moment!

So no TV, no Hulu in the UK. Looks like a lot of Podcasts to listen
to.

Love the show

Paul the no-tv-for-now guy in the UK.

***********

Hey buzz crew,
When you were talking about the business week article on WiFi direct I
couldn’t help thinking this sounds an aweful lot like a protocol that
we already have: ad-hoc wireless!
I’ve used this tons of times to connect two laptops without a router.
What’s the big deal?

Love the show!

Ben the network security admin
Rochester, NY

***********

After hearing Texas Instruments threatened individuals who hacked their TI calculators, I began to wonder why would Texas Instruments even care. In my mind, other than being completely ignorant to the potential of the benefits of hacking, there are only two reasons why Texas Instruments would care.

1. The software programs offered on the more recent versions of the TI family don’t require the CPU processors or Ram that they currently have. If you are able to hack the calculator and import the TI-89 version on the software on a TI-83 version, you have now better calculator without them getting the additional payments. (Which, if true, is sad because they would rather protect their old technology than innovate and develop a brand new standard for calculators)

2. They are protecting the ability for their calculators to be considered “approved” for standardized testing. If hacks are available, they may feel they could lose that “approved” branding, which would hurt their sales dramatically.

(One could make the argument of preventing students from flashing a library of game-boy games onto the calculator and making it the best hidden video game toy in the school system. But games have been available for at least 10 years now on the TI-brand of calculators.)

Either way, these actions are surprising for a company that was voted by Business Ethics as one of the top 100 corporate citizens in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007

***********

Hi Buzz Crew,

Just had to report a strange occurrence involving bluetooth, an iPhone
and a Toyota Prius:

My wife and I were both driving home from the gym. I was engaged in a
phone call (using my iPhone and a bluetooth earpiece). She was
following a few car lengths back in our new bluetooth-equipped Toyota
Prius. Suddenly my phone call ended. I chalked it up to typical
cellphone dropped calls. But in fact here’s what happened. Our Prius
was close enough behind my car that its built-in bluetooth paired with
my iPhone, effectively hijacking the call. My wife said she was
listening to the radio and was interrupted by my friends voice asking
“are you still there?”

Anyway… thought it was an interesting story.

John, Rochester, NY

Apple's letter to the FCC makes some pretty incredible claims about what Google Voice does to the iPhone's phone functionality. TechCrunch calls the claims misleading when they're being nice. To us, they sound like lies. We're also kinda taken with the Nokia laptop. Yes, Nokia is making a laptop. And, of course, the week of stars kicks off with guest host Patrick Beja.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Apple answers the FCC's questions
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/apple-answers-fcc-questions/
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/21/the-simple-truth-whats-really-going-on-with-apple-google-att-and-the-fcc/
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/08/critics-call-shenanigans-in-wake-of-apple-att-fcc-replies.ars

Apple to ship Mac OS X Snow Leopard August 28
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10315866-37.html

Nokia enters Netbook fray with booklet 3G
http://www.pcworld.com/article/170657/
http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/24/nokia-introduces-booklet-3g-mini-laptop/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10315916-1.html

Cable versus wireless: Guess which is growing faster?
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2009/08/21/cable-vs-wireless-guess-which-is-growing-faster/

Rumor: Walmart catalog lists $100 price cut for Xbox 360 Elite
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/22/rumor-wal-mart-catalog-lists-100-price-cut-for-xbox-360-elite/

Looking at the positive in WoW’s BlizzCon announcements
http://www.examiner.com/x-5942-Oklahoma-City-MMORPG-Examiner~y2009m8d23-Looking-at-the-positive-in-WoWs-BlizzCon-announcements
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8218521.stm

Skank’ blogger talks, sues Google for $15m
http://government.zdnet.com/?p=5283

Criminals prefer Firefox, Opera web browsers
http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/08/21/2119253/Criminals-Prefer-Firefox-Opera-Web-Browsers

AT&T to require smartphone data plans
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10315678-94.html

Wal-Mart recalls fiery DVD players
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10315452-1.html

Vote for Buzz Out Loud at SXSW 2010
http://www.cnet.com/8301-19709_1-10311505-10.html

VOICE MAIL
Jose is going to sue Apple

E-MAIL
Hey Buzz Crew,

Of the airplanes that have their own Weather Radar; it is usually
located in the nose of the aircraft and only covers about 160 degrees of
what is in front of them. They are completely blind about what is
behind them. So while you taxi to the runway and wait in line if you
are not pointed in your departure direction you are out of luck.

pilot of an airplane with weather radar,

chris

**********

Hi,

I am a day behind so I just listened to the 1046 episode. You received an e-mail that says that the IEEE membership is $15 I guess USD. As a former IEEE member I know you may be charged from $138 USD to $175 USD as a full member depending on the region of the world you live. As a student you get charged from $27 to $32 for one year and half of that for half a year. Also I searched the IEEE site and the only information I could find was that you can get MS software if you are a student member of the IEEE Computer Society.

http://www.ieee.org/web/membership/Cost/dues.html

From the IEEE Site:

IEEE Student membership is open to undergraduate and graduate students who are enrolled in at least 50% of a normal, full-time course of study in an IEEE designated field.

That is why I didn’t renew my membership, I could afford to spend the $138 USD for the 2009 year. Maybe in 2010.

Love the show.

Eduardo Torres

**********

Slmgr.vbs -rearm is typically used when building machines in a lab
environment. Typically you use it when you rebuild the machines in your
lab.

Also, if you use volume licensing (ie Microsoft KMS and your KMS server
isn’t updated to support Windows 7 yet) you might need to extend your
expiration date until your KMS admin updates the KMS server’s Volume
Licensing Key.

–
Michael G

Episode 867

UK ISPs switch on mass Wikipedia censorship
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10009938o-2000331777b,00.htm
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10116543-93.html
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/12/07/how-the-great-firewa.html

Technology start-ups to be given £1B fund
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/dec/07/nesta-plan-technology-startups

BlackBerry Storm firmware update
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10114383-1.html

WalMart: Wiis and iPhones
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE4B608520081207
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a4YIU21gLaSY

Google to sell truly open Android dev phone
http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/08/12/08/1324256.shtml

ViaSat satellite approved for broadband in 2011
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20081206/tc_pcworld/usbroadbandinternetsatellitescheduledforlaunchin2011

Spore most pirated game of 2008
http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/12/06/spore-tops-list-2008039s-most-pirated-pc-games

EMI joins Tap Tap Revenge
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2336325,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

Computer scientists find audio CAPTCHAs easy to crack
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081208-computer-scientists-find-audio-captchas-easy-to-crack.html

TiVo launches Netflix streaming for its Series3 DVRs
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10114609-1.html

Voice mail

Anon from NH - Facebook and eyeballs

Lee in Boston - Podcast guilt

E-mail

Tom, Molly, Jason and whatever other wayward employee you happen to snag
out of the office today,

I guess you have dramatically underestimated your audience with respect
to the difficulty level in the bingo card. Perhaps you should look at a
task you might have previously considered impossible. I think you
should require a picture of Steve Jobs in the wild using a Gphone.
Just a thought.

Love the show,
Vic the Texas Rancher Pilot

**********

Hi Guys,

This is Chris the Frapper Map guy.

Is it just me of you've missed to talk about the opening of Amazon MP3 Store in the UK ?
If I missed it please let me know which episode so I can go back and re-listen. If not, please do mention on your next talk, it's quite important for us here to know this. It's even got cheaper price compare to iTunes !
Here is my blog post talking about it : http://www.toogeektobetrue.com/2008/12/04/amazon-mp3-store-uk-launches-with-songs-cheaper-than-itunes-take-that-apple/

Cheers ! Love the Show !
Chris Prakoso

**********

I figured by Monday you'll be talking about the Consumer survey that claims that Google uses 21 times more bandwidth then it pays for, and I wanted to chime in.

First of all, the numbers are right. The costs are drastically different between what I pay and what Google pays for bandwidth, but Its comparing apples to oranges, consumers to business... of course the numbers are going to be dramatically different.

The company doesn't even get "Costco level" economics. You buy a jar of peanut butter at the grocery store you pay one price, but if you buy a two gallon jar at Costco, you get a much better cost per weight and comparatively Google buys jars as big as your house.

Their conclusion shows just how little this company understands their own numbers. Using the peanut butter example, they look at Google's massive jar and then their own and are shocked by the fact Google's rates are a lot better then theirs. Rather then put their blame on the ISP's for their apparent shafting, they point the finger at Google cause they buy in bulk and say they're not paying their fair share.

The fact is everyone is paying their fair share, its just that anyone who wants Google's rates will have to pay mortgage on their peanut jar. Ok... so the analogy is getting a little wonky here, but you get the point.

These 'facts' are being used in a net neutrality argument regarding infrastructure costs... but the problem is what it always has been... ISP's are bottle necked at the 'last mile' and Google's express lane to the still free flowing internet backbone has absolutely no effect on the problem the ISP's got themselves into by overselling and saturating their connections at the local level and now want someone else to foot the bill.

Ben @ Nova Scotia

**********

Hello Tom, Molly, Jason, & other,
This is Jerry, the US Navy Seabee serving in Italy. Please inform
CMDR Mark that if e-mailing him the show doesn't work out, I would be
willing to burn him a CD each week of that week's shows and mail it to
him. If he is being deployed to Europe or the Middle East I could
mail it for free and it should get to him fairly quickly. Just give
him my email allias, and we will give it a try.

As a "Dirt Sailor," I would be more than happy to help a shipmate
out. I know this method doesn't sound like the best but when I was
deployed to Iraq my wife would shoot video of her and our baby boy
each month and mail a DVD to me. The significance of those DVDs &
what the did to keep me going can not be overstated. Perhaps Buzz Out
Loud will not hold such a high significance for CMDR Mark but it would
be one more thing to look forward to and help to time fly by.

Keep up the great work,
Jerry

EPISODE 865

Listener co-host details: Email buzz@cnet.com with your name, phone number, preferred time of day (with time zone). We are shooting for doing the interviews next week.

Smartphone numbers are in: iPhone sales exceed Windows Mobile sales for first time
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/04/smartphone-numbers-are-in-iphone-sales-exceed-windows-mobile-sa/
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081204-apple-rim-winners-in-shrinking-smartphone-market.html

Recharge your cell phone by talking into it
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F03%2F2320200
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7764537.stm

Google was 3 hours away from DOJ Antitrust Charges
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F04%2F1412218

Firefox users targeted by rare piece of malware
http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2008/120408-firefox-users-targeted-by-rare.html

Apple to sell a $99 4GB iPhone at Wal-Mart?
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/12/04/apple-to-sell-a-99-4gb-iphone-at-walmart/

World’s second Android phone now on presale
http://www.intomobile.com/2008/12/04/worlds-second-android-phone-now-on-presale.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10113308-94.html

Report: Comcast usage monitor coming in January
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10112892-2.html

Apple believes someone is behind Psystar
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F04%2F1528233

Monster Cable sues Monster Minigolf
http://consumerist.com/5101473/monster-cable-sues-monster-minigolf-for-trademark-infringement

Doctor performs amputation by text message
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F03%2F2345206

Voice mail
Alex: Facebook phishing?

E-mailL
Morning JoMoTo
A Buxx card uses real money. It’s a preloaded credit card designed for
teens so that they have a card to use but can’t run up a big bill. Both of
my kids have them and it teaches them how to keep track of spending,
budgets, etc.
Love the show

Dr. Mom from Twitter

**********

The final version of the Double BOL BINGO- with full descriptions and proper names.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33039348@N04/sets/72157610707558064/
http://www.box.net/shared/qvrycdsv8b#Double_BOL_BINGO
I’d have to say this was quite fun- though frustrating to a level of ridiculous at moments. Taking a hard look at what technologies actually have impact and presence and how people use said technology kept me interested throughout. Also: Finding a Segway outside of its protected preserves is very unlikely. Though the number of Kindle+Segway combos are probably much higher in number than Kindle+BlackBerry Storm combos.

Victory!

David in Provo (TrojanBee)

**********

Hey Buzz Crew,

As soon as I heard that I could win Cnet stickers on the live stream, I ran off. One of the only places you will ever see segways in Tarpon Springs, Florida is Fred Howard Park Beach. After about an hour of running throughout the beach, I found a nice little pack of segwayers. I then ran to the main center of Tarpon into many of it’s coffee shops, I found an Asus eee PC, though I’m not sure of the model. Admitably, the Zune and the GPS were those of my neighbors.

Pictures:
http://photobucket.com/BOLbingo

Please excuse the HORRIBLE quality as I took them with my phone. Due to my limited texting privaleges, was force to take a picture of a picture.

-Chris from Florida
-AKA PacGamer

**********

Hey Tom, Molly, Jason & Random Host,
I had just finished listening to Slashdot Review's daily podcast dated 3 Dec 08, "SDR2008-12-03", and I am seriously traumatized!!! They talk about a doctor, funded, by DARPA, who is working on re-animating the dead. You'll have to listen to the episode but this totally frightening to me. It's like a zombie movie in the making. DARPA is funding this so soldiers on the battle field can be quickly put into suspended animation so they won't die. What happens when it goes wrong? What happens when the re-animated creatures go awry? I am all for the advancement of science, but this is scary.
Love the show!!!
Kory - From Landstuhl Germany

Episode 841

Microsoft to offer Office online
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10077535-2.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081028-microsoft-office-will-float-to-the-cloud-with-office-web.html

MS offers peek through Windows 7
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7695933.stm
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10077484-75.html

Microsoft doubles reward for teen who ran away after his parents pilfered his 360
http://gizmodo.com/5069904/microsoft-doubles-reward-for-teen-that-ran-away-after-his-parents-pilfered-his-360

Dolly Parton enters ‘white space’ debate
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10077742-94.html

Researchers decentralize BitTorrent
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/28/1722214

Quantum key distribution meets the real world, fails
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081029-quantum-key-distribution-meets-the-real-world-fail.html

HD Netflix streaming comes to Xbox 360 first
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/10/29/hd-netflix-streaming-comes-to-xbox-360-first/

AC/DC confuse Donald with Excel spreadsheet video and CD-only distro
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ACDCs-Black-Ice-CD-Album/story.aspx?guid={0A29BF85-6030-4239-A18D-86082628C6A4}
http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/06/poll-should-acd.html
http://gizmodo.com/5068899/acdc-excel-spreadsheet-music-video-has-us-thunderstruck

Walmart relaunches MP3 store with $0.74 MP3s
http://gizmodo.com/5070019/walmart-selling-drm+free-mp3s-for-74-cents-finally-mac-and-linux-friendly-too

The VCR is dead
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/10/28/the-vcr-is-dead.html

DTV transition will ‘puke’ on environment, says recycling group
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/10/dtv-transition.html

Voice mail

JL in Minnepaolis
War of the Worlds - twitter.com/wotw2

Mark from Florida
What use is Google Earth

E-mail
…to the internet today, October 29, 2008!

39 years old. Up next: mid-life crisis.

(The first message ever to be sent over the then ARPANET (sent over
the first host-to-host connection) occurred at 10:30 PM on October 29,
1969. It was sent by UCLA student programmer Charley Kline and
supervised by UCLA Professor Leonard Kleinrock. The message was sent
from the UCLA computer to a computer at the Stanford Research
Institute. The message itself was simply the word “login.” The “l”
and the “o” transmitted without problem but then the system crashed.
Hence, the first message on the ARPANET was “lo”. They were able to do
the full login about an hour later.)

But you knew that…

Digital Dave in San Diego
http://www.cs.ucla.edu/~lk/LK/Inet/1stmesg.html

**********

Relatively new listener here. It’s been about 2 weeks. I heard about you guys when someone(I forget who) was on Twit. The reason I like the show is because it gives me something to listen to on a daily basis instead of once a week like Revision 3.

After listening to Friday’s show I wanted to comment on how this listener can return a Console game after opening it. You take it to the customer service desk and say I forgot my receipt and this game doesn’t work for my console. They will replace it with another. They will go and get a new one. MOST of the time they will forget to unwrap the plastic. They will give you a new game with the plastic back on and then you can go to another Wal-Mart a few miles down the road or that same Wal-Mart the next day with your receipt and get your money back.

Thanks,
Steve Rehnborg
Raleigh, NC by way of Ohio

**********

What’s Microsoft calling their cloud computing solution? Azure. Check out the Mac Dictionary’s definition of Azure:

bright blue in color, like a cloudless sky

Cloudless! I love it.

Richard Gunther
Washington, D.C.

EPISODE 828

An ignoble but much needed end to Web 2.0, marked by a party in Cyprus
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/10/an-ignoble-but-much-needed-end-to-web-20/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10063178-93.html

Sequoia Capital's 56 slide presentation of doom
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/10/sequoia-capitals-56-slide-powerpoint-presentation-of-doom/

11 troubled Web companies: The next Kozmos?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10063020-2.html

Bank turmoil fuels phishing boom
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7663055.stm

Wal-Mart reverses policy on DRM?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10063168-93.html

Verizon Wireless to charge content vendors 3-cent fee for text messages
http://www.rcrwireless.com/article/20081009/WIRELESS/810091609/0/all/verizon-wireless-to-charge-content-vendors-3-cent-fee-for-text

http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/2008/10/us_aggregators_stunned_at_verizons_003_mt_transaction_fees_increase.html

US telco: ‘Public broadband is illegal’
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/10/minnesota_public_broadband_ruling/

Guinea pigs squeal over Yahoo home page test
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10062224-93.html

Web Therapy: Lisa Kudrow’s smart new Web comedy series
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/09/web-therapy-lisa-kud.html

Robotic suit for rent in Japan
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/10/0034205

Voice mail
Whiny McWhinerson
WHYYYYYYmax

Hmmmm
Hmmm, text message

Josh from Denver
YouTube audio comments.

E-mail

Hi Buzz crew,

Happy birthday cellphone! Apparently, it was 25 years ago today that
people made the first regular-service cellphone call. The differences
really put things in perspective: at the time, you were lucky to have
30 minutes of call time and had to carry around a phone so big you
could probably kill a bear with it. That puts things in perspective
when you realize that many phones now are more like little
supercomputers compared to what you had in 1983. More here:

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/10/10/25th.anniv.of.cellphones/

Cheers,

Jon
Ottawa, Canada

**********

Hello,

Wanted to alleviate some of the fear that may be surrounding the GeoEye satellite used by Google.

The .41m (or .50 for Google) resolution is only for black and white photos, and since Google probably isn’t going to use those on Google maps, then they are stuck with 1.65m resolution for the color.

Even if they were coloring the .50m resolution photos you still wouldn’t be able to really identify the small stuff, as each pixel represents .50m.

I guess what it boils down to, is you don’t need to use the “private” shopping feature on your browser if you are concerned the satellite is going to catch you.

Hope this helps.

Kyle from Bakersfield.

**********

Hi JaMaTo plus one

I have just been driving on my way home from work listening to episode 827 when I felt compelled to stop and write this email, as I think I may at last have something worthy of being read oh on the show.

Whilst you were discussing Zune bashing on the show, Natalie said that she was very suprised that we had not yet seen a Zune phone. Well actually, I was at the Microsoft event in London last week where Steve Ballmer gave away his tidbits about the cloud OS and he specifically answered a question about Microsoft direction and consumer products. Here he confirmed their intentions to make the Zune software availble for other mobile Microsoft platforms, including phones.

I would try and look for the Cnet story that I saw mentioned this and include the link, but as I am on my iPhone and didn’t think of that at the start and have no copy and paste! I can’t..

Love the show and have been listening since the 1st century

Martin the VMware guy from the uk.

**********

After putting it off multipile times I could not procrastinate or take it
any longer…

After listening to ep 827’s content about how Microsoft should have
expected to be made fun of over calling the transferring of Data between
zunes “Squirting” I could stand it no more.

The term is the correct term and Microsoft had nothing to do with it. for
example I found this article about the 1.0 spec for Bluetooth and how it
compares to IrDA specs written in June of 1999: http://awurl.com/oxjZsoIfw

The official term for the IrDA spec is called “Point and Squirt” because
you have to point to the other device creating a PAN (Personal Area
Network). “Squirting” has become the term for point to point PANs
(narrowcasting not broadcasting). Bluetooth syncs with other devices and
narrowcasts between them so the term applies.

There is even a Linux app called e-Squirt that handles both IR and
Bluetooth.

Robert Clark
Prince Albert, SK, Canada

**********

Hi favourite podcasters,

Fancy giving a shout out to my contribution to the BOL wiki -
http://buzzoutloud.wikia.com/wiki/European_benchmarks

I’d like to offer some European data, as you sometimes make mistakes
and sometimes moan about things in the US that frankly any of us over
here would be jealous of.

Simon

**********

Hey JaMoTo +…ooh let me guess here….um…Rafe! (If I go that wrong…sorry!)

Sorry I didn’t get back to you about your call for the Patent Office. Sitting over in the Trademark Office (Madison East building-Represent!) with a wicked Sinus Infection I could barely make sense of BOL this week. I figured one of the Patent guys would straighten you out though.

I did look at the DMCA suggestion box and have been sifting through some ideas about what would be the best language for an exception. I’m going to start a thread in the forums and would appreciate suggestions but as of right now I figure an exception to “circumvent copy protection to perform any act recognized as an exception to copyright protection or as an act of fair use” is a good place to start. Ultimately that’s what the problem is, isn’t it? That we as users can’t use the work in a way we normally could because of the violation of the DMCA. If we have permission to circumvent based on recognized exceptions already then copyright holders still have the extra cause of action in the case of pirates and other infringers while law abiding citizens can use the works for entirely legal purposes. Short of “get rid of the DMCA” all together, it seems the fairest compromise. Perhaps if we work on it in the forums and then have the Buzz Brigade send the suggestion en masse to the Office it would help?

Also-a quick shout out to my other DC area buzzers. Let’s do a Happy Hour, yes? I’ll make a forum thread for that too.

–
Frank L.

Natali says she giggles when she sees guys using the tiny little Eee PC. But she doesn't question their manliness. Engnr_Chik thinks Netbooks are for everyone. Plus we speculate on the rush to release a prebeta of Windows 7, demand Wal-Mart do something about their forlorn DRM music tracks, and I'm possibly moving to Japan. Or New York. Or space.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 819

Japan to get 1Gbps home fiber connections
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/27/1757211

SpaceX orbits success with Falcon 1
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10053326-76.html

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/09/space-x-did-it.html

Windows 7 to finally go public in late October
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080929-windows-7-to-finally-go-public-in-late-october.html

Wal-Mart shutting off DRM servers, turning over a new leaf
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/28/walmart-shutting-off-drm-servers-turning-over-a-new-leaf/

Alcatel’s $1.5 billion MP3 patent payout denied on appeal
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080928-court-denies-alcatels-appeal-to-reinstate-1-5-billion-judgment-against-microsoft.html

AT&T drops Dish for DirecTV
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10052944-94.html

TiVo's software launches on a PC
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-tivos-software-launches-on-a-pc/

New TiVo UI (thanks tales!!!)
http://www.slashgear.com/tivo-new-user-interface-in-testing-features-picture-in-guide-at-last-2917609/

Sprint goes live with XOHM WiMax service in downtown Baltimore
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/29/sprint-goes-live-with-xohm-wimax-service-in-downtown-baltimore/

New Zune music from Fania
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/sep08/09-29FaniaRecordsPR.mspx?rss_fdn=Press%20Releases

War crimes video games
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7638581.stm

VOICE MAIL

Chris from Portland
What about Indies in the cloud?

Librarian Cat
Little Brother review

E-MAIL

Hey Jamoto + 1,

I have to agree with RogueTess and Molly from Episode 818 - smallish Netbooks are great. I bought a 20GB 901 eee PC in July and I love it. It came with a Linux distribution, but I installed XP on it.

A big reason why I bought the Eee is its compact size. I just got back from 2 weeks on the island of Hawaii and I brought the Eee with me. Although we spent the first four nights in a little cottage in the middle of nowhere, the rest of the trip was spent in a B&B and a condo that both had Wi-Fi, so we were able to research our day excursions like horseback riding through the Waipio Valley (vy-pee-oh), find restaurant Web sites for phone numbers and menus, check e-mail confirmations, and most importantly keep on top of my NFL Pick-em group, which you can ask Jason about. Ask him who’s in first place, go ahead ask him.

Plus, even though it lacks a DVD drive, I was able to rent a couple of movies from Amazon to watch on the plane.

Also, the Netbook is not just for chicks. A dude I used to work with bought the 1000h Eee because he takes frequent trips on his motorcycle and it packs nicely in his road trip bags.

Love the show,
engnr_chik from the chat room.

I found the location of the Russian “happy face” on Google maps from
episode 817

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IeJHb-2CVGM/SNUFiyTlEHI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/shQMNh5h89o/s1600-h/smiley-1000.jpg

here it is on google maps

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en&q=russland%2C%20Oblast%20Tscheljabinsk%20Tscheljabinsk&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

Note the Identical traffic around the square, parked cars and shadows etc.
I was very sad about discovering this, because:

1. I felt happy that hundreds of Russian folks had such a sense of
community that they could get together and build a happy face.

2. A kinder, gentler graffiti has not made it big on the interwebs
after all.

3. …and worst of all, this means there really was no Vodka garden.

Spasiba for nothing, slashdot.

Aaron, Chico, Calif.

Sorry, I got behind on my podcasts and just heard Jason volunteer to go up on the space elevator.

Not going to happen.

The elevator is for freight only. Humans will still go up in launch vehicles. The reason is that the trip up will take days and the radiation would kill anything alive. The point of the elevator is to take cargo up.

1. For about $400/pound (instead of the $10,000/pound it costs on a rocket)

2. On a regularly scheduled basis (unlike rockets that get delayed almost every time

For more information...
http://www.liftport.com
Al

JaMoTong:

You guys got it a bit wrong about Windows 7’s decoupling from Movie Maker, and so on. The Windows Live versions of these apps are *not* run from the cloud: they are actual desktop applications that you can currently install from http://get.live.com. A lot of these replace existing Vista applications (photo gallery, mail, what have you) and are quite frankly a lot better. While they do have functionality that makes them play nicely with online services (like automatic settings for Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo when you’re setting up an account in the mail client), fear not: they still save stuff to your computer, and they do not require any kind of internet connection to be rad.

Except Live Writer, the blogging application. I guess that wouldn’t be very rad without an Internet connection. Unless you just liked to pretend you were blogging for real.

-Jeff from Seattle

If both of them get you free Wi-Fi, which one would you rather have? Also in the news today, Google's Street View team doesn't care for a little turnabout, the patent process gets smarter thanks to the Web, and IMDB is now delivering movies and TV. Yeah, really. Maybe we're the only ones who thought it was weird. With special guest, Leo Laporte!

EPISODE 810

IMDb now serves full-length videos
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13515_3-10042280-26.html

Everyone but Apple joins new 'buy once, play anywhere' group
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080915-everyone-but-apple-joins-new-buy-once-play-anywhere-group.html

Google audio search graduates to lab project
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10042536-93.html

T-Mobile’s Google-based phone nears
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122150409898737579.html

Street View operatives object to being snapped
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/16/street_view_crew_privacy/

Zune 3.0 to debut with ‘extra value meal’
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10042174-75.html

Program brings Web’s collective wisdom to patent process
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/09/15/crowdsourcing.patents.ap/index.html

Porn passed over as Web users become social: author
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080916/wr_nm/internet_book_life_dc

VOICE MAIL
Lorenzo
What about Best Buy Digital Download service?

Kyle
Trapped in Facebook hell!

E-MAIL

Wally: I had a thought about why Podcaster was not allowed on the app store. I think the reason Podcaster was denied is not for the reason we think it is. When Apple said it was because “it duplicates iTunes Functionality”, I think they meant in a literal sense. If you think about this, the majority of podcasts are delivered as MP3’s. What format have the majority of online music stores been offering their music.. MP3.. All these online music stores would need to do to bypass the mobile iTunes store is give you a free RSS feed and a Web interface (either within Podcaster or their own modified variant). That’s exactly how Podcaster would duplicate mobile iTunes functionality.

Hey guys, I head you talking about Podcaster on the last episode and realized this was an application that I had to have in my collection. I knew it was asking for donation and figured I'd give it a whirl, see how well it worked, and maybe throw them $5 or $10. I went through the process of getting in the “Ad Hoc” network of the application and after receiving confirmation I was told I had to “donate” $10 before I could even try the application. I refuse to support developers who force donations down your throat to access their apps. I have donated multiple times to developers who just ask for it, as well as tried to donate to the iPhone Dev Team. In my humblest of opinions, forcing a “donation” out of your users is just as bad if not as worse as Apples literally shady confirmation process. Anyway, keep up the show, and I love the more regular occurrence of guest hosts.

~Jacob “The Under Appreciated Nerd” Tapp Phoenix, Ariz.

Hi JaMoTo (and appropriate suffix for whomever your additional co-host is),

In regards to Google’s plans to sail away from international law, I can understand how the idea that Google being above the law would be quite scary. They already have unprecedented control over our private data and although they currently do not have a remit to utilize it, this could change in the future.

However, for me there is one plus side to their potential untouchability. Being based in international waters would mean that the U.S. government would not be able to demand that Google hand over my (and your) private information under any counter-terrorist (or other) guise.

Is it wrong to trust Google more than the U.S. government? At least Google doesn’t care what I “shop privately” for.

Transatlantic love for the show,

Andrew the Medical Student from London

Hey Buzz people that are in studio today,

I’m writing in reference to episode 809 when you were talking about AT&T U-verse. U-Verse uses what is referred to as FTTN or “Fiber to the Node” in which, fiber is run to a node, and then from the node, users are connected by traditional copper cabling, thus limiting the potential throughput. Specifically, U-Verse isn’t really true fiber, its VDSL which stands for Very High Bitrate DSL.

This is completely different from Fios which offers FTTP, or “Fiber to the Premises”, which is a direct fiber line to your home. This is typically much faster and more reliable of a connection, and its what we think about when we think about fiber connections. The difference is, of course, that Fios or Fiber to the Premises, in general is extremely expensive in the “last mile”, and fiber to the node is relatively cheap in comparison, because the last mile is solved by traditional cabling that probably already exists or is much cheaper to roll out overall.

Also, the last statement Verizon made is that they do not plan on throttling or limiting Fios, so we’ll see how that works out, I hope they don’t. They really have no reason to, at least for a while. Their last mile problem is basically solved.

Hope that helps clear that up,

Love the show,

Max

At least in Taiwan, the Linux version of the Asus Eee PC is very popular among housewives and students. Meanwhile geeks want the Windows XP version. Also on the show today Microsoft finally declares war on Apple's advertisements, and an Xbox 360 price cut may be coming as early as Sunday. Oh and there was something about the iPhone. Apparently people are excited about it.
Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 762

Apparently, one third of us have been copying DVDs!
http://www.cnet.com/8301-17914_1-9985794-89.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080708-breaking-the-law-one-third-of-us-residents-rip-dvds.html

Xbox 360 price cut coming July 13
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9985383-7.html

Wal-Mart spreadsheet claims 40GB PS3 “will be replaced” in August
http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/09/wal-mart-spreadsheet-claims-40gb-ps3-will-be-replaced-in-augus/

Microsoft admits Windows Vista mistakes, criticizes Apple ads
http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208803153

Linux for housewives. XP for geeks.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=342

iPhone 3G reviews: It’s fast, hungry, and still pretty
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9986195-1.html

Belgian operator will sell iPhone simlock-free
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/09/belgium_will_sell_iphone_simlock_free/

iPhone wannabes or smart alternatives? You decide
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-9985925-94.html

Aussie device ‘could speed up Web 100 times’ (Thanks Wayne!)
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=594743

The travails of receiving digital TV broadcasts
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13556_3-9985562-61.html

Getty Images and Flickr announce exclusive partnership to offer new collection of creative imagery
http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=320377
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/great-photo-on-flickr-getty-images-might-pay-you-for-it/

Skooba’s TSA-approved bag — for real this time
http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/08/skoobas-tsa-approved-bag-for-real-this-time/

VOICE MAIL

Braden
Putting that 7 cents a kilobyte in perspective.

Bill Portland
Question about TrueCrypt

E-MAIL

Hey almost BOL crew (minus the ranty one) I just came accross this story:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080709.wgtiphone0709/BNStory/Technology/home

Basically it says that Rogers is going to offer the 6GB(still not unlimited grr) plan for $30 instead of $100 from launch day until August 31. As of right now (12:30 ADT) there has been no update on the Rogers Web site or the infamous ruinediphone.com other that on the latter there is a link mentioning a video address later today. If this plan also includes the minutes included with the previously announced then this might be a pretty good deal. Still lame that it’s limited but a lot better….
Love the show
Justin the engineering student
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Tom, as much as i love the feature too, I gotta say the new feature in Gmail has a down side to it and it is the person who is in your Gmail account can log you off too. so while someone else is checking your mail and see that you sign in he/she can log you off. so maybe when the happens you need to be the faster person and log the other person off and change your password as quick as you can. Its going to be a war game between logging each other off. Yay Fun!

love the show
Manuel

Hey BOLers.

http://www.ubi.com/US/News/Info.aspx?nId=5336

This is Wayne the pixel fudger here in Quebec. I just thought I would share this with you. With this merger, there is going to be some serious realism infused into next-gen games. I worked at Hybride for 8 years on such projects as Sin City, 300, (and you favorite Tom & Molly….& Veronica) Snakes On A Plane. They do some very nice work there and with the emerging 3-D trend (insert groan here), Hybride is the logical choice for this kind of merger.

I know the owner of Hybride very well and I think with the extra cash from this deal, he’ll be able to afford Rogers’ iPhone price plan.

Heart the Show,

::Wayne B

Long time listener (via podcast), first time “caller.” I started my computer this morning to find that the Internet connection was unresponsive. As a loyal follower of the show, my first response was to blame Comcast, curse a little, and start to reset my cable connection. Eventually I traced the problem back to the Zonealarm firewall I have installed. It turns out that one of Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday updates crippled third party firewalls.

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2221138/microsoft-fix-kills-web
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/07/09/ms_dns_patch_zonealarm_woes/

It appears that MS was making a legit DNS protocol update, but that they failed to tell software vendors building to their old system that it was going down. I smell antitrust if this lasts longer than a day and the Europeans catch the scent… oh well, off to uninstall Zonealarm and enable Windows Firewall (hey, it’s bundled after all).

Love the show, keep up the great work. All the best,

Evan
Washington, DC

AT&T employee here and I just got an email asking me to wait a few days before buying an iPhone so customers could have the opportunity to get theirs first.

awwwwwwww,

Tracy